Thick, rich, chewy bar cookies bursting with delicious add-ins — oatmeal, dried cherries, chocolate chips, coconut, and plain M&Ms. 

Recently, we went out to dinner with our wonderful backdoor neighbors. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive, they asked about my blog, what I was baking, and told me how much they enjoy the treats I occasionally drop off.

Then Dennis told me that his all-time favorite cookie was one I brought over three years ago at Christmas time. He went on to describe the cookie in detail, so I knew exactly which cookie was his favorite.

The original bar cookies were cut in a star shape, and decorated for Christmas. So I thought it would be fun to share the recipe again with some pretty multi-colored M&Ms, which would be perfect this time of year.

When I’m making a cookie that has lots of mix-ins added to the dough, I like to mix the add-ins together in a big bowl before adding them to dough. That way your mix-ins are more evenly distributed throughout your cookie dough.

It had been a three years since I’d made these cookies, and I shouldn’t have waited so long. They really are a fantastic, over-the-top delicious, memorable bar cookie.

Thanks Dennis for the reminder. I hope you enjoyed them as much this time around.

Yield: 24 bar cookies

Chocolate Chip Coconut Oatmeal Bar Cookies with Dried Cherries and M&Ms

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Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup dried cherries, cut in half
• 1/2 cup M&Ms

Instructions

1. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350° if using a metal pan or 325° using a glass pan.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl mix the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the eggs one at a time mix until well blended. Mix in the vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, coconut and cherries.
5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle M&Ms on top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. (Don’t overcook.)
6. Cool on a rack to room temperature before cutting.